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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013

EVENTS

THE NORTH AMERICAN LABOR HISTORY CONFERENCE 2013 2013 Theme: Geographies of Labor Oct. 24-26 Detroit, Michigan

Over the last several centuries, transformations in technology and in economic, social, political, and cultural practices have created new spatial regimes within and across geographic boundaries. Whether negotiating the changes around them or taking advantage of new possibilities to shape alternatives, workers have been central to remapping this emergent environment. Inspired by the “spatial turn” in the social sciences, this conference will explore the myriad ways in which workers have interacted with a variety of geographic categories.

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF WORKPLACE RESISTANCE: U.S. AUTOWORKERS SPEAK OUT

Saturday October 26 1:00 pm USW Hall, 25 Cecil St., Toronto

Three prominent UAW shop floor activists describe current life on American assembly lines and keeping resistance alive.

– At the height of the recent economic crisis auto companies were bailed out while workers’ concessions were accelerated and working conditions made even more brutal. – Profits are now at record levels again but pressures on workers continue. What are the barriers to fighting back?

Intro: Sam Gindin, former Research Director of the (former) CAW

Speakers: – Gregg Shotwell: 30 years at General Motors. Machine operator turned rebel. Generally recognized as one of the most articulate voices of the U.S. working class. Author of Autoworkers Under the Gun. – Scott Holdieson: Electrician at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, writer and editor of the local union paper, long-time activist for union democracy and equality among workers. – Sean Crawford: Great grandfather was Vice Chair of the Flint sit-down strike and great grandmother and great aunt were part of the Women’s Emergency Brigade. Hired on as lower-waged (‘second-tier’) worker at GM.

Book lovers know that the fall is a time of new books, book events, and great deals. Our September book sale goes until the end of the month and you can get 50% off all of our labour/union titles and free shipping on ALL Between the Lines books. Click on our “labour and unions” category tab on our website to order your copies. We’ll have new books on sale and older books on deep sale.

A collaboration of York University’s Global Labour Research Centre, Work & Labour Studies Program, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy, Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender & Work.

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NEWS & VIEWS

VIDEO – PRIME YOUR MIND FOR RESISTANCE TO THE “RIGHT TO WORK” LIE

Bankers get bailed out, corporations get incentives, workers get attacked… and ‘right to work’ laws threaten to take this much further.

Moderated by Tracy Macmaster, President of the OPSEU Greater Toronto Area Council.

Over the next week, Rankandfile.ca will be publishing a series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members.

We kick off our series with Bruce Allen, an outspoken member of the CAW/Unifor.

Bruce is Vice-President of the former CAW Local 199 (now Unifor) representing St. Catharines General Motors workers. He is also a Vice-President of the Niagara Regional Labour Council. On August 31, he nominated Lindsay Hinshelwood for Unifor president from the floor of the founding Unifor convention.

NEW BOOK – FROM DEMONIZED TO ORGANIZED: BUILDING THE NEW UNION MOVEMENT

Author(s): Nora Loreto

From the Introduction:

“This book seeks to explain unionization to my generation; to my friends who distrust civil society organizations as much as they distrust government; to my unemployed friends who are living from contract to contract and who would kill for a stable, unionized job; for the workers who have never had the benefit of being represented when facing injustice at work; for the workers who would rather not think of what would happen if they were injured on the job.

“It’s a reminder to unionized folks that many of the truths that they take for granted are not obvious to others and that the labour movement must change how it reaches out to its members, its communities and to non-unionized workers if it hopes to grow. It’s a call to action for activists to share their stories, debunk the existing right-wing, anti-union rhetoric, re-engage in their communities, and build a movement that can defeat neoliberal policies and their political proponents.”

Discussions on the left about the economy might be summarized as warning that things are going to get a lot worse before they get…worse. This is not just a matter of the sustained attacks on the labour movement but as much a reflection of the crisis within labour. For some three decades now, labour has been stumbling on, unable to organizationally or ideologically rebut the attacks summarized as ‘neoliberalism.’ Though the Great Financial Crisis held out the promise of finally exposing the right and its supporters and potentially opening the door to a union offensive and possible revival, the attacks on labour actually intensified and labour continues to have no coherent counter-response. As a prelude to directly addressing that impasse in labour, it is useful to begin with something that Greg Albo recently posed: What is the larger historical significance of this particular crisis?

Are you passionate about film, workers’ struggles, activism or all three?

If you said yes please join us, the CLiFF Board of Directors. The Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF) is a publicly attended free film festival, which is national in scope. The first iteration of CLiFF was held in 2009 across Canada in nine provinces and all three territories. The Board of Directors is made up of volunteers from across Canada.

We are currently recruiting for people with any of the following experience: – individuals from Atlantic Canada, Northern Canada, Quebec, Western provinces – individuals with event planning experience – individuals with fundraising experience.

Directors commit 3-5 hours per week and get to work with like-minded individuals who are passionate and committed to the success of CLiFF. Volunteers are also needed to promote and run the Toronto location of the film festival November 22 – November 24, 2014. Please forward all inquiries to: info@labourfilms.ca, 416-550-8694, or http://www.labourfilms.ca

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ADULT LEARNING JOURNAL CALL FOR PAPERS

Adult Learning is interested in publishing empirical research and conceptual papers and is actively soliciting manuscripts of 4,000-4,500 words.

Adult Learning is a practitioner-oriented journal sponsored by the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) and published by SAGE. The journal publishes empirical research and conceptual papers for researchers and practitioners that approach practice issues with a problem-solving emphasis. The audience includes those who design, manage, teach, and evaluate programs of adult and continuing education.

TWO POSITIONS AVAILABLE AT CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (CUNY) MURPHY INSTITUTE

1) Academic Program Manager for Labor Studies. The person in this position will oversee all labor programs at the Murphy Institute. These include a) graduate and undergraduate degree programs in Labor Studies, b) undergraduate and graduate certificates in Labor Relations (including the Institute’s joint Cornell/CUNY certificate), and c) New York Union Semester – a paid internship program for college credit. The Program Manager will supervise a Labor Studies team and will work closely with faculty, unionists, and university staff to the build labor programs. S/he will also be involved in other aspects of the Institute’s work, i.e., public programming, our journal (New Labor Forum), and non-credit training. The ideal candidate should have considerable experience in the labor movement and higher education administration. For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/1b6paUW

2) Coordinator, Union Semester Program. The individual in this position will supervise all aspects of Union Semester – the Murphy Institute’s internship program for visiting college students. S/he will work closely with faculty, union mentors, and Institute staff in such areas as admissions and registration, internship placement and mentor selection, student orientation, and academic progress. S/he will also be responsible for developing and implementing a recruitment plan to expand the program nationally and internationally. For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/19Ipky9

The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, University of Toronto invites applications from outstanding scholars for a tenure-stream appointment in Organizational Learning in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor and commence on July 1, 2014. The position resides in the Adult Education and Community Development program which is internationally recognized. We seek applicants with a doctorate in adult education or a related field, a distinguished record of research and teaching excellence in the area of organizational learning that fosters sustainable social change, both locally and globally.

The ideal candidate will have expertise in the growing range of theories, policies, and practices which promote, define and regulate learning opportunities for adults through organizations in Canada and internationally. In particular, we seek a dynamic educator with critical research and practice in some or all of the following areas: organizational learning, workplace leadership, team-based and professional learning, organizational development and change, and sustainable, collaborative and equitable practices in organizational settings.

LEC’s Employment Service Program is part of the Employment Ontario (EO) network and plays a vital role in assisting workers and employers to meet the needs of the labour market.

We are currently seeking a highly motivated and experienced job developer to work with the Employment Service team to ensure the Youth Employment Fund (YEF) and Job Matching Placements and Incentives services (JMPI) are provided to employers and job seekers in the GTA.

The position is for 14 hours per week (or 2 days) and will run from October, 2013 to March 31, 2014 with the possibility of extension. The deadline for receipt of applications is October 4, 2013. Please send your resume and covering letter to wtanner@laboureducation.org in a single file with the filename in this format: (YOUR NAME) JD POSTING

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca